


Quirks in the Kitchen

by Sylv



Category: Teen Titans (Animated Series)
Genre: Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-29
Updated: 2012-11-29
Packaged: 2017-11-19 19:37:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/576897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sylv/pseuds/Sylv
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Raven and Beast Boy meet in the kitchen, and discover a little bit about each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Quirks in the Kitchen

"What is that?"

Beast Boy glanced up from his plate. His green eyes quickly searched out the stem of the slightly disgusted voice, and locked into it. Green met violet as the changeling blinked and grinned at his friend. He shrugged his slim shoulders carelessly, and didn't take his off of the incredulous ones staring straight back at him.

Or rather, staring at the concoction on the plate sitting innocently on the stained counter in front of him. Each titan had tried, but none had been able to figure out the origin of the dubious substances on the counter. Perhaps it was meant to be left a mystery.

Purple eyes stared at the plate. It in of itself was not very remarkable. It was white, with blue painted swirls around the edges, and could be deemed almost fancy, although they were used for things as simple as milk and cookies. Actually, there were a few others like it lying around somewhere in the cupboards. They came as a set, all packaged together in a pretty box that had been sitting on their doorstep one day. Wondering who it was from, Cyborg had taken it in, and all opened it together. Starfire blinked, Cyborg scratched his head, Raven was surprised, and Beast Boy openly shocked when they discovered it was a set of platters, plates and silverware. The giver was anonymous.

Looking over at Robin, Raven had been slightly amused to see an expression of dislike on his face. Against her usual principals, the empath read into Robin's feelings more closely on purpose, and found through some sifting that he was loath to use them.

Apparently, Robin had been a normal teenager in some ways when he had lived with Bruce. Impeccable manners were not something that was on his admirable traits list. Judging from the package the teens had just been sent, Bruce wanted to remedy this, and make sure his team didn't have the same problem.

Bruce must have thought it amusing at the time. Robin clearly did not share the same views.

Raven tilted her head slightly to the right and continued to stare unblinkingly at the mess on the unremarkable plate. She wanted to put a label on it, so that it could be sorted into the categories in her mind.

But there was no possible name that she could give to what Beast Boy was eating. There were a few different colors smothered together there. Black, some sort of orangey color, and a yellow that didn't look yellow, exactly. There was no other way for the dark girl to describe whatever she was seeing.

The green boy took in her expression for another moment or two, the grin plastered onto his face. He could only imagine what sort of thoughts were running through her head, but from the look on her face they weren't thoughts of hunger or admitting how mouth-wateringly delicious his snack looked.

"What?" he asked, his face a picture of innocence.

Raven turned glassy orbs onto him. She blinked once, and it was gone immediately. Once more, her features were controlled and blank, the green changeling was sure that if she spoke the monotone would be back in her voice.

A petite hand lifted from where it was normally hidden under her cloak, and a slim finger pointed. "That… on your plate… what is it?" she repeated, and sure enough, there was no emotion in her voice. But Beast Boy didn't need it. He had already seen her reaction, and it was enough to make him laugh for now.

"Just a snack for me to eat. Do you want to try it?" he asked her, his grin widening, if possible. It now reached ear to ear, stretching out his lips to make him look almost comical. He knew what her answer would be, and he was determined to change that.

Raven didn't let him down. "That?" she made an almost imperceptible face. "No," she told him firmly, and turned on her heel to leave the kitchen, forgetting what she had come to get, or make, in the first place.

"Come on…" Beast Boy wheedled, standing up for the first time. "What's the matter? Raven's afraid of trying something new?" he smirked at her.

She stopped, and her back stiffened. An inner battle was taking place in her mind, and she couldn't decide which side she should take.

On one hand, she knew that Beast Boy was being immature and was trying to get her to rise to his bait. She should just walk away and let him finish his own little "snack" by himself. He would forget it in a few hours anyway, so why suffer for it?

On the other hand, she couldn't back down from a challenge, and her ego wouldn't let her take the hit about being afraid and just walk away without proving Beast Boy wrong. The empath didn't want to admit that he had struck a nerve about trying something new. In her neat and orderly world, everything stayed the same. Everything was perfect.

Something new would disrupt that order. Even something as small as trying something that Beast Boy had created (however much her better judgment told her that it was probably a good idea to not touch anything that the annoying changeling made. Ever.).

Raven let out a silent breath and visibly relaxed, if only minutely. She turned back around, and her purple eyes were steely, searing a hole through the young boy who was staring at her. "Fine," she snapped at him.

With her powers, she drew out a chair and sat down, staring at the plate in front of her. Revulsion crept onto her face, and she narrowed her eyes at her newest foe, sizing it up and wondering how she was going to tackle it.

Beast Boy sat down opposite her, in the same chair he had occupied before. He pushed it towards her, until the mess of food was right in front of the dark girl. She looked down her nose at it, and then up at Beast Boy.

"What exactly is it made of?" she asked him, crossing her arms and attempting to keep as far as possible from the plate, training her eyes on her younger friend.

"Stalling?" he questioned with an almost wicked tone in his voice. Raven just raised an eyebrow at him in reply, so he leaned his forearms on the table and stated, "It's a snack. Oreos, peanut butter, and a slice of banana on each." The boy smiled at the food lovingly.

Raven looked even more revolted then before. She carefully placed one hand on each side of the plate and leaned forward, inspecting them. Sure enough, there were the Oreos, with a plentiful smearing of peanut butter and a chunky slice of banana as well. But her friend had mashed them together so thoroughly that they were barely recognizable.

Her other brow rose to join the first, and Beast Boy thought that they would disappear in her hair. "I didn't even know that we had Oreos," she commented, still looking at the food that she was supposed to put in her mouth.

The changeling shrugged. "I always slip them into the cart when no one is looking. They never seem to notice. Robin and his diet…" he muttered, pouting a bit. Seconds later, the resentment was gone. "But I don't need to follow it. So I'm going to eat Oreos if I want to!" he slammed a fist into the countertop, showing his strong feelings about the subject.

A small smile graced Raven's face. "This does look ridiculously unhealthy," she admitted, locking onto the green eyes of her company.

Beast Boy jumped to the defense of his precious snack. "It has bananas on it too!" he pointed out. Raven rolled her eyes, expression clearly saying how stupid she thought his argument, but didn't say anything.

A moment of silence crackled between the two. Beast Boy looked at Raven, Raven looked at the plate, and the plate sat on the counter, wondering what everyone was looking at that was so fascinating.

"I can't believe you actually eat this," she said to her friend, audibly swallowing.

At this, Beast Boy dropped his gaze for the first time in many minutes. He sighed. "I used to eat them all the time with my parents when I was little. It's one of the only things that I have left of them."

Raven winced. She had stepped on a touchy subject, and it was clear that Beast Boy didn't want to dwell on it. It was this, more than anything, more than her ego or her pride, which pushed Raven to put one of those infernal things in her mouth.

She closed her eyes and chewed slowly, hoping that it would become able to swallow quickly, so that she could get this whole ordeal over with. Her fists clenched on the counter, and she shrunk into herself, trying to force the sticky substance down her throat.

Beast Boy leaned forward eagerly, waiting for her reaction. He saw her swallow, but her eyes stayed closed, and her fist stayed clenched tight. He raised confused eyes towards her face and queried, "Well?"

Raven slowly opened her eyes. She looked straight into Beast Boy's green orbs and opened her mouth slightly. Nothing came out.

The changeling felt fear rising in his chest. He didn't know how he should handle a situation like this. "Um… Rae?" he asked tentatively.

The dark girl opened her mouth wider. Beast Boy braced himself.

\--

Robin, Starfire and Cyborg entered the room through the sliding doors, carrying brown paper grocery bags, and were met with a strange scene.

Raven and Beast Boy were sitting on the couch together. The two of them were talking in muffled voices, and there was a smile on the empath's face. Both were repeatedly tossing circular somethings into their mouths, licking their fingers slowly afterwards (which was a surprise itself; Raven never did something as undignified as licking her fingers).

Robin exchanged glances with Cyborg, and Starfire stood still, trying to figure out what was going on. Raven seemed content, and in Beast Boy's presence as well. The three walked closer, but stopped with horrified looks on their faces.

"What are you eating?!" exclaimed Cyborg, his one flesh and blood eye wide with surprise and disgust.

The two heroes froze like children caught with their hands in the cookie jar, caught off guard. But the two recovered quickly, and Beast Boy grinned. Raven had an Oreo halfway to her mouth. She quickly schooled her features, and held it out to her other three friends.

"You guys have to try this."


End file.
